Who really won the G-Day game?
Christian LeMay showed a lot of promise on the winning touchdown drive. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
When I was a kid and we attended G-Day games, a favorite joke was to ask who won the game and answer, “Georgia.”
Ask me who won Saturday’s G-Day game on a sunny but breezy day in Sanford Stadium, and I’ll answer “the defense.”
Doesn’t matter whether they were wearing red or white jerseys, Todd Grantham’s troops looked surprisingly solid Saturday, despite the fact that most of the first-string secondary wasn’t participating because of injuries.
In the first half especially, the Red and Black team offenses had trouble sustaining drives, as witnessed by the baseball-like halftime score, with the underdog Reds leading 5-3.
And, in fact, the most scintillating player on offense in the intrasquad game was borrowed from the defense: Branden Smith, who had a couple of nice runs and caught two passes, including a beautiful 28-yard scoring play on which he juked cornerback Derek Owens and raced down the sideline.
The defensive player who generated the most chatter, however, was sophomore nose guard Kwame Geathers, the spring defensive MVP, who made such a statement on the field that Grantham has indicated we may wind up seeing him in the game at the same time as incoming JUCO star John Jenkins rather than just backing him up.
Geathers seemed to be having his way with starting center Ben Jones at times Saturday. He was commanding double-blocks, just like you want of a nose in the 3-4 scheme, made four tackles (two for loss) and in general just stopped up the middle, a big change from last year.
Of course, when both sides are Georgia Bulldogs, one aspect of the team looking good means another part of the team didn’t. The offensive line is, of course, still reeling from the loss yet again of Trinton Sturdivant, but the middling showing of the running game and the eight sacks given up by the two teams didn’t exactly fill you with confidence about our OL.
Glass half full or half empty? Geathers looked so good Saturday that I’m voting half full.
Other thoughts and observations from G-Day …
We saw a lot of starters Aaron Murray and Hutson Mason, a good bit of Christian LeMay and, this being G-Day, a surprising amount of playing time for scout teamers Parker Welch and Greg Bingham. Murray looked solid, hardly breaking a sweat, though he did give up a safety on his first play from scrimmage. But the two best offensive drives of the day were the game-opener when Mason led the Reds down the field (before the first of Carlton Thomas’ two fumbles ended it) and the 10-play, 75-yard comeback drive by the Blacks, engineered by LeMay and featuring a nice catch by Orson Charles to set up the 12-yard touchdown run by Ken Malcome. LeMay looked relatively poised, had a really nice fake at one point in the drive and showed a lot of promise. …
As mentioned earlier, the running game was, well, missing for much of the day. Caleb King looked pretty good, what little we saw of him. Thomas had a couple of nice runs, others that, more typically, didn’t go anywhere, and those two fumbles. Malcome, who’s been hampered by injury this spring, also showed some flashes, particularly on his scoring run. Generally, though, the ground game was unimpressive. …
Not surprisingly, Tavarres King and Charles looked like the class of the receiving corps. As for the continuing game of where-in-the-world-is-the-Marlon-Brown-we-expected, the junior did have four catches for 47 yards but also missed badly on what should have been a long completion from Murray. …
Redshirt-freshman defensive back Connor Norman had one of those out-of-nowhere days in the injury-depleted secondary, with his name frequently called out by PA announcer Brook Whitmire. He ended up with five tackles, three pass deflections and a great, reaching interception. If Sanders Commings does indeed move to safety, the rise of Norman in the DB corps could be welcome news. …
Matt Stafford won the halftime QB challenge, as expected. (Brant Sanderlin / AJC)
OTHER NOTES OF INTEREST
Matt Stafford won the halftime quarterback challenge, but since he’s the only one of the four contestants who’s still an active player, it would have been shocking if he hadn’t been the winner. … My old Athens High classmate Andy Johnson was the coach of the winning team in the pre-game letterman flag football contest for the second straight year. Among those former players still showing some juice were Fred Gibson, Garrison Hearst and Kelin Johnson, who showed up late on the field but ended up making a couple of nice catches. … My former Redcoat brother had clued us in that the word was the band will be playing from the west end zone stands this season, as they did last year at G-Day and again on Saturday. A good move that should make them much easier to hear throughout the stadium. … A pre-game announcement on the video screen about the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game said both Georgia and Boise State will wear their home colors in the Georgia Dome. Game exec Gary Stokan told fans he wants to see a lot of us in red, too. Awright, RED-OUT! … Isaiah Crowell wasn’t playing Saturday, but he was easy to spot on the field and signed quite a few autographs over the hedges (as did departing Dog A.J. Green). … We wound up Saturday at Foley Field, where the Diamond Dogs took a 7-2 win over the No. 4-ranked Florida Gators. It was already a good day in Athens, but that was the perfect capper.
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144 comments Add your comment
Comment -139 days
April 17th, 2011
11:33 pm
Lets be realist. The offense did look pretty poor. However the team was divided up (supposedly draft picks by players) evenly. It is really hard to get a grasp of the team in this format. I think that is what CMR really wanted. He apparently wanted to leave a great deal of opposing coaches and coordinator guessing. Mission Accomplished. However he also left many many UGA fans guessing as well.
The defense is ahead, as expected. The questions surrounding the offense with the losses of Green and Durham are still very high on the priority list of ” Who want to be a Starter?” The summer program is going to be more important than ever. If the guys we hope are going to come in and play actually arrive early, work hard starting in 5 weeks when summer session begins we may move forward in a postive direction. Yet to be determined: The weight on I. Crowell’s shoulders. I know he was a great high school prospect, but we have seen this all too many times before only to see an injury, attitude, or over hype bring us back to earth.
The defense will keep us in games early unti the offense gets a rythmn. We will need them to. Boise St will be a more than adequate test for us. The USC game will be a test of “wills”. Are our younger players “willing” to lay it on the line and become a positive part of our team. All the recruiting buddy buddy stuff is over, now those guys are going to work to protect their jobs just as CMR is doing with his job.
Lets Face it
April 18th, 2011
12:24 am
A lot of Kool Aid drinkers here just cant see it . Our Offense stinks people!!!!!
7576DAWG
April 18th, 2011
4:05 am
LeMay took the red team down in the last few minutes, scored and won the game. That’s pretty impressive. When the game is on the line our QB has got to be able to arise to the occasion and not panic. Murray had a chance in nearly every lose last year to drive down and probably win the game. But he failed every time. You can’t teach that kind of leadership.
After LeMay learns the play book I hope CMR will give him a chance to see if we have one of those rare QB’s who has so much leadership, the more pressure he is under the better he plays..
I like Murray but he has not shown very much leadership at the end of a game when everything is on the line. Hopefully he will do better this year. He also played two inferior teams from Florida last year and lost both games. He has got to get over his phobia about playing a home state team and treat the game like any other game.
AltamahaDawg
April 18th, 2011
7:21 am
Well in all fairness, Murray was expected to do it pretty much single-handedly. In at least 3 of those “didn’t get it done” he DID get it done, but somebody else made critical mistakes. That has nothing to do with leadership. It seems to me that his team has spoken often and early often about what kind of a leader he was. They are the opinion that matter. Not many Freshman have the all the leadership skills they are ever going to have eiterh. Maybe you can’t teach leadership, (although that is debatable) but it is certainly learned, mosty from experience.
It’s also the UGA defense responsibility to not let the other team come down the field an take the lead right back.
He made tons of mistakes, so would Lemay. Both will be fantastic QBs in thier career. BUt lets ot compare an SEC schedule to one series in a controled scrimage.
Nub
April 18th, 2011
8:00 am
3rd and 9 to go….. Let’s run a draw or throw a latteral pass…. Huge concern …. Come on Bobo…. Same kinda play calling will result in more of the same…
Davis
April 18th, 2011
8:07 am
Bobo & Richt don’t have common sense.
Why do you get Greg Bingham & Parker Welch reps?
Should have had Mason in there at the end to give the red team a fair shot, Murray & Lemay vs. Mason & Welch?
Davis
April 18th, 2011
8:10 am
lemay would have made mistakes too? Really? I don’t think so. 5 for 8 passing so far for 2 td’s, and 0 int’s. Including the last minute game winning drive, something Murray’s never done.
Hunkerdown
April 18th, 2011
8:33 am
Stay after them Kwame. Ben you better tighten up a bit.
DawginLex
April 18th, 2011
8:46 am
This team will be ok, not great, but OK.
There is no doubt, the defense will be much better.
I’m not worried about the offense as some on here. Branden Smith looked good and he looks bigger and stronger.
I’m hoping we don’t have to score points like on a video game this year which would mean our defense is stopping folks.
The SEC West appears wide open. Everyone annointing Bama and LSU is not paying attention.
Right now, I give the nod to Arkansas. Their defense is good enough and they have the best QB in Wilson.LSU will be good. so will MSU although they will slip on defense some.
Bama looks horrible at QB. I’m not buying “Oh but they were playing against NFL players”. They are in trouble with either QB in a game where the other team can score-like Arkansas.
My picks:
Arkansas
LSU
MSU
Bama
Auburn
ole Miss
CHDawg
April 18th, 2011
9:36 am
The one thing this blog confirms beyond a doubt: fans are pretty clueless. Even the coaches are are frequently wrong when guessing how well their teams will play. We have every possible piece of advice here, from Murray stinks to Murray is great; Lemay is great, Lemay is a HS kid dressed in a Dawg uniform; our defense is terrible; our defense is great. We should run more; we should pass more. We win the BCS title; we go 7-6. I guess that is what makes it interesting–nobody knows. Time for us to take a break from the expert advice and frustrated rival fans who get satisfaction from trashing Richt and the Dawgs on the AJC blog. Go Dawgs. Looking forward to a great matchup in the Dome in a few months.
PMC
April 18th, 2011
9:40 am
why was anyone watching the starting QB? It’s a spring game. He doesn’t need to be sharp. It’s meaningless. It’s practice. The only really good outcome is no injuries.
The game is huge for guys who never get to play, or guys who are borderline, or back up QB’s trying to solidify backup slotting.
Much like Mettenburger years ago, way too much excitement over backups. It’s a freaking spring game. I was pleased with the way the D line and linebackers looked. The front 7 will hopefully cover for the secondary.
The offense will score plenty of points under Murray. I’m just not sure yet if they’ll be able to run the ball or keep guys off the QB especially from the right side.
It Ain't Rocket Science
April 18th, 2011
10:04 am
I feel somewhat honored to be among so many people who use their crystals balls to predict UGA’s future with so little knowledge about football and especially UGA football. It would take me all day to prove you all wrong by using reasoning and statistics but I guess it is just easier for the most part to ignore your stupid moronic reasoning and just wait until the DAWGS prove you wrong. You all will just keep on posting your dribble and then when UGA proves you wrong, either change your names on these blogs, or go hide rather than admit your reasoning, if it can be called as such, was as far off as it could be.
I hope you support your own team, whatever they may be, and aren’t as negative about them as you are UGA and I suspect, most of the things in your lives. Your comments and negative point of view are probably a reflection of your view about your own life. Somehow it makes you feel better to come onto a sports blog and spout your crap on here.
AltamahaDawg
April 18th, 2011
10:29 am
Of cource not Davis. The college football history book are littered with freshman Qbs who never made mistakes in live games.
SSIgator
April 18th, 2011
10:36 am
“the running game was, well, missing for much of the day”
It was missing all of last year. Why would this game be any different?
Florida Dawg
April 18th, 2011
10:52 am
Those who can coach and play football do. Those who can’t, complain and make unfounded comments on AJC blogs!
GO DAWGS!
Alphare
April 18th, 2011
10:57 am
Dawg fans,
here is some reality check for you guys. Your team is an average SEC team with good talents. Don’t expect a ring if I were you.
Your offense cannot score because your defense is too good? Just wait to see how they will do when they play a real good defense of another SEC team.
DawginLex
April 18th, 2011
11:13 am
SSI
My florida predictions for 2011:
6-6 record
Lose to UT at home
Brantley benched for Murphy
Weis and Muschamp start arguing
Losses to Bama, LSU, UGA, SC and FSU
Foley declares Muschamp hire “questionable”.
Foley allows Muschamp to fire Weis as Muschamp declares “Weis destroys all you can eat buffets and major college football programs equally”.
Foley privately begs Mrs Meyer to let Urban come back.
2012 recruits flee commitments to Florida in droves since the program is perceived to be in shambles.
Ceasar
April 18th, 2011
11:37 am
Glad to hear Redcoat Band is playing Dixie the year. Sanford will rock!!!
Davis
April 18th, 2011
11:59 am
Murray’s offense averaged 18 a game last season against ranekd teams.
Good for 11th in the SEC.
Cannondog1980
April 18th, 2011
12:23 pm
Bill,
I was one of the contestants in the halftime QB Challenge and wanted to see if I could purchase some pics of myself and the QB’s you took. Is it possible to email you?
Thanks
Averyboy
April 18th, 2011
12:23 pm
So…what you’re saying is that THuga’s starting offense coudn’t do anything against the scrubbs on 2nd and 3rd team D??????? Heee heeeee heeee heeee heeeee!!!
DawginLex
April 18th, 2011
12:58 pm
So what is obvious to all of us averyboy is that you are an idiot?
IT WAS NOT 1ST TEAM VERSUS 2ND TEAM MORON.
THERE WAS A DRAFT SO THE TEAMS COULD BE DIVIDED EQUALLY.
IDIOT.
AltamahaDawg
April 18th, 2011
2:29 pm
You know the SEC conference standing for points against specifically ranked teams last year? Ah the weekend troll sessions at the freshman dorm. Had your little charts out. Ummm. Better than cosplay.
I would ask if anyone even blinked when noticing that GaTech was not one of those winning teams on Georgia’s schedule, but that never really seems to matter to you guys does it?
Better Dawgs!
April 18th, 2011
2:31 pm
D- is going to rock this year. For the UGA haters; you keep trying to figure what shampoo to eat with your salad.
ugaclassof2004
April 18th, 2011
3:31 pm
The best thing that can happen to this program( and most of you are REALLY going to hate this): finish 5-7 with a loss to Tech, with Richt getting let go. Hitting rock bottom will force McGarity to replace Richt, which will make him unpopular with 70% of the Bulldog fanbase. But at least with Richt gone, the program will be able to move in the right direction instead of staying in neutral like it is now.
The WORST thing that can happen to this program?: UGA finishes 8-5 or 9-4 this season. This will mean that all the Richt supporters will say ” See I told you so!!! Richt will right the ship”, which of course means that UGA will go 7-5 or 6-6 in subsequent season as the program further plunges into mediocrity.
I’m not sure I can deal with 3-4 more years of 7-5 or 6-6.
Ogeechee Dawg
April 18th, 2011
4:12 pm
Hoping for a great year – but to be honest – we were a bad team last year – and our O-LINE has tons of work just to be mediocre.
AltamahaDawg
April 18th, 2011
4:28 pm
Of cource a better thing for the program is to win a lot of games now, and in the future. I think most folks prefer that.
Barack Dawg
April 18th, 2011
5:42 pm
Loving my Dawgs and hating on Tech
kicking the ass of the rambling wreck
hanging around and doing the wave
kiss Georgia’s ass Burma shave
truedawg
April 18th, 2011
5:50 pm
hope the o line gets better, if not a long year. But if it’s better i can see big things for this team. I still wanna see how the players look in the 4TH , see if the conditioning is better.
Nate the Great
April 18th, 2011
6:00 pm
@ugaclassof2004: I was here through the Goff years and I’m still a fan. You would be suprised how long you can cheer for a losing team and hate everything about the coaching staff, but still support the boys that suit up every Saturday.
I love CMR, but I feel as though this is his last year at the helm. Our oline IS terrible and they will cost us 5 games minimum. Not RBs fumbling or QBs throwing INTs, but missed assignments on the oline and/or just simply getting over powered will be our down fall. IF these guys can get it together, be a single unit, and impose their will on the other team, then its a 10+ win season easy. We all know games are won and lost in the trenches, and this group looks like they will lose us more games than they win for us.
One last thing, the oline WILL have their way with Boise State, but after that it looks shakey at best.
AltamahaDawg
April 18th, 2011
6:18 pm
I wasnt sold on the O-line last year. Said so. Had hoped they would be better of cource, but never a big fan of Searles. We seem to ahve betetr talent, thna results on that line last 2 years. Though to be fair they probably took more than thier fair share of the blame. Rbs have not been exactly the easiest to block for either. freshman QB calling the plays doesnt help either.
Wjat we do NOt know now, is what kind of a job Will Friend is doing. I caught something on the SCC replay that Richt said that sort of got glossed over. That he really liked what he had done “already” in developing a cohesiveness. Interesting that it was worth ementioning that specifically. Just sounded to me like it was the unspoken “as opposed to the past”.
We will also see if the new conditioing has some noticable effect.
can’t tell a darn thing from teh G-day game, most of the starters were blocking for back-ups holding the ball too long, and still hanging in their pretty well. Black team had all subs, some very newly at thier postions, or back from injuries. I think if everybody was on one unit, they have the numbers.
We’ll see. they will NOT be worse. The defense WILL be very much improved.
Delbert D.
April 18th, 2011
7:36 pm
Okay, so the Red team was the home team and wore the red jerseys. The Black team wore the visitors’ white jerseys. What happens next year when the Black team is the home team?
One thing that is most unreal about spring games is that there is nobody to boo, and no fights in the stands. I guess that is two things.
I really wish it were August instead of April…
AltamahaDawg
April 18th, 2011
8:12 pm
That was bad typing even for me.
AltamahaDawg
April 19th, 2011
7:05 am
I’m guessing a tech man found that huge crowd at a football venue kind of unreal?
Diablo
April 19th, 2011
8:27 am
Now that we’re in the off-season, wouldn’t this be the perfect time to take an in-depth look at UGA and have a serious discussion about the problems at UGA and why the arrest rate of players is the highest in the country? it’s common knowledge that UGA is a party school, but have any dawgtard players every actually graduated with a real degree? Jan Kemp exposed the school and the coaches almost three decades ago, but there is no sign that anything has improved; if anything, the arrest rate shows that things are getting more outrageous every year while the clueless Mark Richt has absolutely no control over his players. And then there is the infamous “red panties” incident that will haunt UGA for decades.
UGA has become a major embarrassment to all Georgians, and we want some answers starting now.
Beatdown City
April 19th, 2011
8:29 am
Boise State 57, Athens Correctional Institute 10.
Let the beatdown begin!
Saint Jan
April 19th, 2011
8:48 am
I wonder if any of the books about UGA football include the perspective of someone speaking for the late Jan Kemp? The perspective that “student” athletes like Lindsay Scott were playing years without taking college level courses? That the proudest moment of the football program was earned by players who never earned a single college credit?
Dawgtards love to return to 1980, but their memories are really short when it comes to remembering an earthshaking event that happened a few years later that showed the world what a joke UGA athletes were and what a scam artist their beloved Vince Dooley was (and is). So for all those dawgtards with short memories or who think their athletes are actually taking real courses and trying to graduate, here’s the quote that broke the trial wide open and showed what a slimeball Dooley is:
O. Hale Almand Jr., a lawyer for the defense, offered a justification for the favorable treatment accorded the athletes, citing a hypothetical player. “We may not make a university student out of him,” he told the jury, “but if we can teach him to read and write, maybe he can work at the post office rather than as a garbageman when he gets through with his athletic career.”
Nothing has changed at UGA, they just do a slightly better job of keeping things quiet, but that’s hard to do when 45 of your player-thugs have been arrested, isn’t it?
UGA: WINNER OF THE FULMER CUP AND THE CESSPOOL OF THE SOUTH.
DawginLex
April 19th, 2011
8:49 am
Diablo here is an answer for you:
SHUTUP OR I WILL PERSONALLY SHUT YOU UP
DawginLex
April 19th, 2011
8:50 am
same for you saint jan. And get some new material;
Dawgtards?
Cesspool?
It is real old stuff. Even the TROLLS complain
Snoop Dawg
April 19th, 2011
9:35 am
Hey Doggs, sounds like this Deion Bonner kid will be a good fit at Auburn…
It Ain't Rocket Science
April 19th, 2011
10:03 am
Avery,
Heee Heeee Heee. You sound like a sissy. Is that the best you can do? Another SNERT makes his prescense know on a big peoples blog.
Diablo,
The embarassment to the state of Georgia is people like you. You haven’t got a clue but you act as if you are an expert on all things UGA and the state of Georgia. You are the problem and not the solution.
And finally there is saint jan with complaining about events that are 30 years old whom I suspect is a Techie ball fan that can not even come up with anything original to say on a blog. “CESSPOOL OF THE SOUTH”. If that were indeed true, I suspect that you would have been the first thing that was flushed into that cesspool.
See how easy it is to make all of the childish comments you see on these blogs. I think there are a lot of you that post crap on these blogs that need to mature a little bit. You actually only make yourself look stupid with your continual negative crap. People reading this stuff from other schools and regions, must have a high opinion of Georgians based on your childish petty crap you repeat time in and again. How many of you people would have the guts to say the same thing to those players and coaches to their faces? Not one of you would and that is the truth. Best you just keep your mouth shut if you have nothing to say good about somebody or some school. Better to be trhought a fool than to open your mouth, or in this case, your keyboard and confirm the fact.
John
April 20th, 2011
7:50 pm
Burma Shave…UGA recruited Cam Newton to play tight-end, and Joe Cox to play QB, that shows you how smart UGA coaches are.
John
April 20th, 2011
7:54 pm
G-day game was the same, CMR doesn’t like his 1st team offense to go up against the 1st team defense…it might hurt Murray’s confidence. CMR lied when he said every position would be open, it’s obvious that no starters lost their position and no 2nd teamers had a chance because they were all on the black team with walkons and scout teamers.
Kim Stafford
April 21st, 2011
12:49 pm
I love my Dawgs! I always read this blog…and when I’ve had my fill of sports I read Twenty-First Tycoon. It’s an awesome site and it’s based out of Georgia…which is better than supporting some stupid New Yorker!